The Faculty Senate held its monthly meeting on Oct. 15 in the Laden Senate Chambers in the Joe Crowley Student Union. 

Below is a list of highlights from the meeting provided by Faculty Senate Office staff and Faculty Senate Chair David Sanders:

1)      University of Nevada, Reno Faculty Senate Resolution - Academic Integrity Oct. 15, 2015

Note: The following resolution was approved by the Faculty Senate: "The Faculty Senate of the University of Nevada, Reno is affirming its strong stance on the importance of academic integrity and its expectations that faculty, students, and the entire University community honor this principle.  The Faculty Senate has worked and will continue to work with the University administration to revise policies and procedures to ensure fairness and accountability for faculty, students and the institution in cases of alleged or proven academic dishonesty."

2)     University Budget Priorities

The Faculty Senate visited with Chancellor Dan Klaich.  The conversation focused on the next 10 months as the budget is prepared.  It is critical that programs have clear objectives and outcomes for the resources requested. Much of the key work must happen by the first of the year. The Chancellor sees the next legislative session as an historic opportunity. The Board of Regents will be reviewing institutional requests in preparation for creation of the NSHE budget request.  Chair Sanders is serving on the University's committee and will convey faculty budget priorities to the group. Sanders urged the senators to seek out budget concerns and priorities from their constituents.

·        President Marc Johnson indicated that the funding formula will continue to be used to fund our caseload growth. Payment for weighted student credit hours in the next session are calculated, using academic year 2015-16 numbers and should bring in additional revenue from the state.  New requests will focus on:

·        Operations - Legislative budget enhancements for operations need to be focused and indicate how they benefit the University and the state, and help the institution become a research university of high impact.  The University's faculty target continues to be 18:1.

·        Capital request - New Engineering Building 

·        Faculty Compensation

3)     Faculty Announcements

·        Compensation - The Faculty Senate will co-sponsor a luncheon Oct. 28, 11:30 a.m. till 1 p.m. in JCSU Ballroom A with the Nevada Faculty Alliance.  The topic is faculty compensation, compression, and deferred compensation.  If you plan to attend, please RSVP at your earliest convenience to the Faculty Senate Office, Donna Healy:  dhealy@unr.edu.  Lunch is limited to the first 110 who RSVP; additional seating will be available for all who wish to attend for the presentation from noon till 1 p.m.

·        Conflict of Interest - It is important for faculty to fill out their Conflict of Interest form, no later than Dec. 15. In Google Search type "Conflict of Interest UNR" or go to: http://www.unr.edu/research-integrity/conflict-of-interest

·        CANVAS will replace Blackboard as the provider of the WebCampus Learning Management System.  Implementation is planned at the beginning of the Fall 2016 semester.

·        Tobacco-Free Campus - The campus will continue to move toward a Tobacco-Free Campus. One hundred ash receptacles have been removed.  Seventy-five remain and signs will be placed by these receptacles encouraging the tobacco-free campus. A goal has been set to remove all receptacles by August 2017.  Starting next year there will be no north end smoking zone at the football games.

4)     Faculty Senate Facebook Page

·        The Faculty Senate launched its Facebook page on Oct. 10.  Please "Like" us at: https://www.facebook.com/unrfacultysenate?ref=aymt_homepage_panel[facebook.com]

·        The Faculty Senate is hoping that this page will be a place to engage and inform faculty on faculty-centric events and issues. Learn about the next Campus Conversation or information on the City of Reno Master Plan. Let the Faculty Senate know what issues are important to you. If you see articles that would be of interest to academic or administrative faculty, post away.

5)     Police Consolidation

NSHE is considering the consolidation of police forces in the North and in the South.  The Board of Regents could be voting on consolidation of DRI, TMCC and UNR police forces at its December meeting.  South consolidation could come later.  They are likely to keep north and south police forces separate.

6)     City of Reno Master Plan

At the Faculty Senate meeting, representatives from the City of Reno presented the "ReImagine Reno" project that includes the land south of Interstate 80 and incorporates the University Gateway Project.  They are still looking for input as the do master planning for the City of Reno.  There is a survey at www.Reno.Gov/ReimagineReno[Reno.Gov] or you can attend a focus group. The next focus group is Thursday, Oct. 22.

Visitors at the meeting included Chancellor Klaich, President Johnson, Provost Kevin Carman and Athletic Director Doug Knuth.  You can see the full minutes of our meeting at our Faculty Senate Website: http://www.unr.edu/facultysenate/.  They are typically posted within 10 days of meetings.